Core Faculty Prepare for Trip to Rome

Thursday, June 21, 2018

By Nancy Enright

Since the end of classes, there has been no posting for "Inside the Core this Week;" however, this week we have something special to share regarding the group of Core faculty who will be going to Rome from July 15-21 to visit sites linked to the Core classes they teach. We have had two talks already to prepare faculty: one by Fr. Chris Ciccarino about the early church (in connection with the New Testament and other readings from the early Christians in Core I and Core II) and the other by Fr. Doug Miliewski on St. Augustine and St. Monica (in connection with The Confessions, parts of which are read in Core I, and The City of God, an excerpt of which is read in Core II). This week, we are pleased to have Kelly Shea, Associate Professor of English and Director of First Year Writing (and one of the Core faculty going on the Rome trip) give a presentation on how to write an essay to be included in a volume she has been working on for some time tentatively titled, Writing Rome: A Spiritual Journey, and, as Kelly describes it, the book "would feature pieces that SHU folks have written or might write about a personal experience or learning that they've gleaned from their journeys."

Professor Kelly Shea, Ph.D.

This book idea grew out of a previous Seton Hall Rome trip she attended and her own Core III class, as well as her work teaching writing and creative non-fiction. Kelly says, "The idea is based on the fact that visitors to Rome might consider unique ways of writing about the city and/or the journey and/or themselves – and that, perhaps, some of those personal, spiritual, memoir-like musings might make for a unique collection of essays. In fact, many SHU folks have written such essays subsequent to their Rome trips over the years that SHU has been sponsoring these journeys," and she hopes to collect additional essays from this year's participants. Since our first Core course is entitled Journey of Transformation, it is very fitting that Core faculty recount their own journeys to Rome and how they are impacted by them in their teaching and personal lives. We are excited to hear from Kelly this week, and to learn about how to share the experience of our journey to Rome together.